


First One Thing, Then Another

by VampirePaladin



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Barbara Gordon is Batgirl, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Love Confessions, M/M, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Time Loop, Vague Point in Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22426474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: Nightwing, Batgirl and Red Robin are trying to get some files, but every time the get past one hurdle they encounter another.  At least Red Robin has infinite continues.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake/Dick Grayson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59
Collections: Past Imperfect Future Unknown 2019





	First One Thing, Then Another

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salazarastark (niewanyin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niewanyin/gifts).



“Alright team,” Nightwing eagerly said as he looked between Batgirl and Red Robin. “All we need to do is slip into the Acme Corporate Headquarters without being noticed, get Batgirl to their research computers, let her work her computer magic, and then get out, easy as pie!”

“I brought a few tools. Since their research computers are completely offline, I don’t know for sure what I’ll be up against,” Batgirl said.

Red Robin nodded to the others. This was supposed to be a routine mission. It should be nothing for the combined effort of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Tim Drake, yet Tim found himself nervous. It could have just been that there was the other thing still bothering him, the thing he didn’t want to talk about. How could he tell someone that was practically his brother that he was in love with him?

“Everyone, move out.”

With expert speed and skill, the three left the roof of the skyscraper they had been standing on. A combination of capes designed for gliding and grappling hooks got them onto the roof of Acme Corporate Headquarters. 

Nightwing and Red Robin worked together to get one of the skylights open as Batgirl hacked their security to make sure it didn’t set off any alarms. Down below them was an empty storage room. 

“You go first,” Nightwing said to Red Robin after they got the skylight open.

Red Robin dropped inside. As he passed through the window frame, everything around him shimmered and everything changed. The empty room was now full of gear and he didn’t have time to reach before he fell on a vat of goo that smelt like both freshly grown grass and rotting fruit at the same time.

“Watch out. There’s a hologram. I fell into some kind of goo. If you angle yourself to either side you’ll avoid it,” Red Robin called up to them.

He was still getting the goo off of him as Nightwing and Batgirl dropped onto either side of the goo.

“Sorry about that, Red Robin, the hologram system must not be on any networks or else I would have picked it up.”

Like wraiths the three of them moved through the building, avoiding all forms of security. They went into the physical heart of the building, a concrete room filled with a giant computer. The three stepped inside, the harsh air conditioning warring with the heat made by the computer making it uncomfortable.

“Just give me a few minutes,” Batgirl said.

She went to the computer and started to work. There was a click behind them.

Red Robin spun around. The door behind them had shut, when he tried it he found it to be locked. “We’re trapped!”

There was a hissing sound as hidden compartments in the computer started to release gas, quickly filling the room. The three tried to break the door down, but anything that could get them out would also detonate the gas.

Before the world went dark around Red Robin he knew that he wouldn’t wake up again. The last thing he saw was Nightwing.

* * *

Red Robin was in goo. 

He looked around in confused disorientation. They’d just been in the room with the research computer. Had he just made all of that up?

“Is everything okay down there?” Nightwing called out.

“Yeah, there’s a hologram. It must not have been on a network. There’s goo straight down,” Red Robin called up as he got out of the goo.

Nightwing and Batgirl dropped down.

“Didn’t we already do this?” Red Robin asked.

“Do what?” Batgirl asked.

“All of this,” Red Robin said.

“Are you alright?” Nightwing asked as he reached out to touch Red Robin’s forehead.

Red Robin’s heart beat faster at the contact and his cheeks slightly flushed. “I’m fine. Just, I remember going into the room with the computer. Batgirl did something, the door locked, and we were all gassed.”

“None of that happened,” Nightwing said.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Batgirl said.

“It happened as soon as you touched the keyboard.”

Batgirl crossed her arms in thought. “Sounds like a fake keyboard that sets off a trap. It won’t hurt to take a look at it when we get there.”

Red Robin felt apprehensive as they went through the building. Everything was exactly the same as the last time. They got to the room and this time Batgirl did a detailed check of the keyboard.

“Yeah, this computer is a trap,” Batgirl confirmed. She continued to search until she pulled away a panel on the large computer banks, revealing another monitor and keyboard. “This is the real one.”

With the correct computer terminal found Batgirl quickly hacked the computer and downloaded the files to a portable hard drive that she’d brought with them.

Once they had what they came for they stepped outside the concrete room, Red Robin let out a sigh of relief. Everything had gone fine.

“I don’t know how you knew about it, but good job,” Nightwing said as he put a hand on Red Robin’s shoulder and smiled at him.

The building shook as a series of explosion rocked it. Even as this was going on, Red Robin’s brain registered that each explosion came from the below and in the direction of where the load bearing steel beams would be located. The explosion itself didn’t each them, but with all the supports gone the building collapsed around them.

Nightwing pulled Red Robin close.

* * *

Red Robin was in the goo. He was already moving. They were in a time loop. Every time they failed things went back to the moment, he touched the goo. He remembered reading a news article on Acme doing research on time travel, but he hadn’t expected something like this.

“Is everything okay down there?” Nightwing called out.

“Hologram. There is goo straight beneath you. Come down at an angle and you’ll avoid it,” Red Robin called up to them.

Batgirl and Nightwing jumped down, landing on either side of the goo.

“Sorry about that, Red-“

“We don’t have time for that,” Red Robin said. “Look the main computer in the room we want is a decoy. It will set off a trap, that locks us in and fills the room with gas. The real computer is hidden under a panel in the computer banks. But there are bombs in the building, on each support beam. We need to take care of those at the same time.”

It wasn’t just the three of them who were in danger. If the building came down there would be millions in dollars of damage and there was still some staff working inside, not to mention the damage to nearby buildings and the risk of hurting people outside.

Nightwing and Batgirl nodded. They didn’t question how Red Robin knew this. They trusted him.

“I can take care of the computer on my own,” Batgirl said.

“Alright, looks like we’re on bomb duty,” Nightwing said.

The three of them split up. Red Robin had studied the blue prints before tonight and he was able to deduce the locations of the bombs. There were five of them, one in the middle and the rest on the corners. Over coms he and Nightwing coordinated their efforts. Soon they had four bombs disarmed.

“I’m approaching the last one,” Nightwing said.

“I’m just about finished on the north bomb,” Red Robin said.

“Hey, I have been wanting to talk to you about something. I-“

There was a bang and the com went dead. Red Robin had just a moment to register what happened before everything changed.

* * *

This time Red Robin insisted that he take the bomb in the middle. 

He approached it, warily. There weren’t any visible indications of a trap, but if there had been something easy to see he was sure that Nightwing would have avoided it himself.

When he stepped right in front of the bomb, he passed through another hologram he saw a group of men with guns pointed right at him. He didn’t have time to move as the bullets started. Red Robin was able to note that these men were experienced, ex-military.

* * *

This time Red Robin extended his bo staff and used it to vault. The men still fired but they were shooting wildly, not expecting someone to go high.

He felt pain as one of the bullets hit his leg. Red Robin gritted his teeth. He couldn’t let that stop him.

With the weapons at his disposal he fought the men, blood pumping out of his leg rapidly. The last man fell before him. Red Robin stepped toward the bomb and his leg collapsed under his weight. He looked at the bomb in despair. He’d been so close to stopping it.

There were warm arms around him. “I got you.”

Red Robin looked up to see Nightwing picking him up in his arms. Batgirl moved past Nightwing and finished disarming the last bomb.

Delirious from loss of blood, Red Robin looked up and said, “I love you, Dick,” before he passed out.

* * *

Tim Drake woke up in a hospital bed. He felt warm hands on his. At his side was Dick Grayson.

“Tim, you’re awake!” Dick cried out as he hugged Tim tightly.

“Did we do it?” Tim asked.

“Yeah, we did it. We know that you were experiencing a time loop. We called some _business friends_ and they looked into it. The goo you landed in was causing the time loop.”

“Did you guys find out what was going on with all that weird stuff?” Tim asked.

“Babs checked it out. They were trying to destroy the building and make it look like an attack by one of Gotham’s criminals so that they could collect the insurance money. We’ll do some more digging before dropping the info off to Commissioner Gordon.”

“That’s good,” Tim relaxed in his pillow.

“Tim, there is one more thing… did you mean what you said when you passed out?”

Tim stiffened, but when he looked in Dick’s eyes, he didn’t see disgust, anger, or pity. All he saw was the same love that he always saw in Dick’s eyes. It gave Tim courage to do something that wasn’t going to be reset.

“Yes.”

Dick didn’t answer Tim with words. Instead he leant in and kissed him on the lips, his arms wrapped around Tim’s body.


End file.
